1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to antennas and, more particularly, to electrosurgical devices with antenna assemblies suitable for use in tissue ablation applications.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Treatment of certain diseases requires destruction of malignant tumors. Electromagnetic radiation can be used to heat and destroy tumor cells. Treatment may involve inserting ablation probes into tissues where cancerous tumors have been identified. Once the probes are positioned, electromagnetic energy is passed through the probes into surrounding tissue.
In the treatment of diseases such as cancer, certain types of cancer cells have been found to denature at elevated temperatures that are slightly lower than temperatures normally injurious to healthy cells. Known treatment methods, such as hyperthermia therapy, use electromagnetic radiation to heat diseased cells to temperatures above 41° C. while maintaining adjacent healthy cells below the temperature at which irreversible cell destruction occurs. These methods involve applying electromagnetic radiation to heat, ablate and/or coagulate tissue. Microwave energy is sometimes utilized to perform these methods. Other procedures utilizing electromagnetic radiation to heat tissue also include coagulation, cutting and/or ablation of tissue.
Electrosurgical devices utilizing electromagnetic radiation have been developed for a variety of uses and applications. A number of devices are available that can be used to provide high bursts of energy for short periods of time to achieve cutting and coagulative effects on various tissues. There are a number of different types of apparatus that can be used to perform ablation procedures. Typically, microwave apparatus for use in ablation procedures include a microwave generator, which functions as an energy source, and a microwave surgical instrument having an antenna assembly for directing the energy to the target tissue. The microwave generator and surgical instrument are typically operatively coupled by a cable assembly having a plurality of conductors for transmitting microwave energy from the generator to the instrument, and for communicating control, feedback and identification signals between the instrument and the generator.
Microwave energy is typically applied via antenna assemblies that can penetrate tissue. Several types of antenna assemblies are known, such as monopole, dipole and helical. In monopole and dipole antenna assemblies, microwave energy generally radiates perpendicularly away from the axis of the conductor. Helical antenna assemblies have two main modes of operation: normal mode (broadside) and axial mode (endfire). In the normal mode of operation, the field radiated by the helix is maximum in a perpendicular plane to the helix axis. In the axial mode, maximum radiation is along the helix axis.
A typical helical antenna is illustrated in FIG. 1 and includes a conducting wire 100 that is coiled to form a helix having an axis 120 and backed by a conducting ground plane 110. The basic geometrical parameters that define a helical antenna include the diameter D and circumference C of the helix, where C=πD, the number of turns N of the helix, the center-to-center spacing S between turns, the pitch angle α, where α=arc tan(S/πD), and the axial length A of the helix, where A=N×S. When the circumference of the helix is small compared with the axial length and the wavelength, the helical antenna radiates in the normal mode (similar to dipole antenna radiation). When the helix circumference is about one wavelength, the helical antenna operates in the axial mode. Typically, a helical antenna radiates in the normal mode when C<0.4λ (λ is the wavelength) and in the axial mode for approximately 0.75λ<C<1.3λ.
During certain procedures, it can be difficult to assess the extent to which microwave energy will radiate into the surrounding tissue, making it difficult to determine the area or volume of the target tissue that will be ablated.